Energy Transfer Characteristics of Thermoplastic Bumper Beams in a Pendulum Impact

Three commonly used energy management systems (expanded polypropylene foam, collapsing honeycomb and hydraulic shock absorbers) were fully characterized in 2.2 m/s pendulum bumper impact testing. This work was done to better understand the dynamic energy transfer and absorption of the system components and any synergies which exist between them. The test results showed that the energy absorbing systems which exhibited the best load and deflection performance when considered as individual components do not always work the most synergistically with the reinforcement beam. Simply examining the energy absorber's performance alone did not truly reflect the ability of the beam/absorber system's ability to manage energy.